TSA Offers Prizes for Suggestions to Improve Waiting Lines

If you have had enough of waiting in lines in the airport, you may finally have recourse: the Transportation Security Administration is now offering a total of up to $15,000 for the best techniques suggested for queuing passengers.

The traditional method has been to accept passengers first-come, first-served and to shepherd customers into line and through checkpoints with the aid of retractable belts and barriers. Now, with the advent of various categories for travelers, including premium travelers, wheelchair-bound passengers, pilots and other staff for the airplanes, and fliers who use TSA’s PreCheck program, first-come, first-served is proving to be far more complicated than in the past.

TSA spokesman Ross Feinstein said the challenge “is about leveraging innovation and out-of-the-box thinking to find solutions to TSA’s most challenging issues.” The grand prize winner for the best suggestion will earn at least $5,000; others can win at least $2,500. The deadline for submissions is August 15; the ideas can be submitted online. More than 200 ideas have already been entered in the system.